Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, producer on Resident Evil 6, explained the studio's take on what comes first: characters or story.
Speaking to GRTV at a Microsoft evening event during E3, the producer outlined how the extensive cast the series has generated in its lifespan allowed the studio to cherry pick characters based on which fit best in the story they wanted to tell.
"[We] want to tell an interesting story," he said. "To do that you have to narrow your choice in terms of character. Certain characters you can tell certain stories with, and by choosing certain characters, we're able to appeal to fans on a certain level and tell certain stories.
"So for us its all about making it interesting - and particular characters allow us to do that. So when we're making a game like this, we try and determine which characters we're going to use based on those qualifications."
He also discussed portraying the passage of time in the RE universe, and its effects on their creations. "With all these characters players have certain expectations of them; we try and maintain certain aspects of those characters, while adding new things to that - because they age, they get older. But we tried to keep certain elements that fans will recognise."
You can watch the entire interview here.